Facing the Giant

July 21, 2024 / reverendjoannwhite / Leave a comment

Sabbath Day Thoughts — “Facing the Giant” 1 Samuel 17

Giant stories are as old as humanity. In that most ancient of epics The Odyssey, Homer tells the tale of Polyphemus, the gigantic, one-eyed, man-eating son of Poseidon. As Odysseus and his crew voyaged home from the sack of Troy, they were captured by the monstrous Polyphemus. The giant ate them two at a time until the wily Odysseus outwitted Polyphemus, blinding his foe and making an escape.

Closer to home, the Algonquin people of the northern US and Canada have long told the story of the Wendigo, a giant humanoid with a heart of ice. You know the Wendigo is near by the foul smell of rotting meat and an unseasonable chill in the air. The Wendigo has an insatiable desire for human flesh. He stalks and eats people, tearing their skin with sharp claws and feasting with yellowed fangs.

When I lived in Oregon, I was told to be on the lookout for Bigfoot. The hairy, smelly, fifteen-foot-tall giant moved silently through the forest, leaving behind footprints up to 24” long and 8” wide. Spanish explorers first reported accounts of Bigfoot in the 1500s. More recently, the giant was blamed for an attack on gold prospectors on Mt. St. Helen in 1924 and the death of three migrant workers in the 1990s. A local group near the Siskiyou National Forest built a trap for the giant with reinforced concrete walls and a metal door that slid shut when sprung. They caught several bears, but no Bigfoot. When I saw the trap while hiking the Collings Mountain Trail, it was filled with empty beer cans. Either high school partiers have made it a favorite hang-out or Bigfoot has a taste for Budweiser.

Giants are huge, overwhelming, and deadly. When facing the giant, we are terrified, ready to run for our lives or paralyzed by fear. In facing the giant, we feel outmatched and hopeless. We know that we are in for the fight of our lives—and there’s a good chance that when the battle ends, we’ll be eaten.

David faced off against the Philistine giant Goliath of Gath, a hardened warrior, nearly ten-feet-tall. His armor was impregnable. A massive bronze helmet shielded his head. 125 pounds of chainmail protected his torso. Elaborate bronze grieves covered his legs. He brandished an enormous curved bronze scimitar, a massive spear with a lethal twenty-pound iron head, and a great sword—sharp enough to cut a man’s head off. For forty mornings and evenings, Goliath strode onto the field of battle and issued his terrible challenge to the Israelites—meet me in mortal combat, man-to-man, winner take all.

The Israelites saw the mighty Goliath, heard his challenge, and were “dismayed and greatly afraid.” Their hearts raced, their knees knocked, and their bowels loosened. It was all they could do not to turn tail and run. Giants can do that to us.

We may not face Polyphemus or Bigfoot, the Wendigo or Goliath, but we all face giants. Our giants are challenges that feel ten-feet-tall. They’re problems that are huge, overwhelming, and deadly. We all have times when we feel like a frightened child, facing a monster who can eat us alive.

We face the giant of family dysfunction. Our family may look good on the outside, but we know what goes on behind closed doors. We know the harsh and hurtful words that have been spoken. We know the mortal wounds to our heart of hearts. We know the deep, dark secrets, that we guard with our lives: domestic violence, mental illness, and sexual abuse.

We know the giants of our own making, giants that grow from our choices, misguided values, or the intense pressures of our society. We wrestle with the giant of addiction to alcohol or prescription drugs, gambling or cigarettes. We struggle with workplace giants—the mind-numbing work we cannot leave; the beastly boss who threatens and bullies; the soul-stealing ethical corners we cut to find a better bottom line. We battle with the giant of debt, born of greed, over-consumption, student loans, or simply keeping up with the Joneses.

We know the giants who invade. These are the giants who come uninvited, armed with catastrophe, the giants of accident, injury, and disability. We battle the giants of chronic disease: diabetes and COPD, heart trouble and arthritis. We tremble before the giant of cancer that multiplies uninvited within our bodies in a silent deadly tide.

We all have giants. We stand before them, feeling like those Israelites did as Goliath called them to a fight to the death, winner take all. Our giants inspire fear, hopelessness, and despair. The giant bellows its challenge and our hearts race and guts churn. We’re ready to run and hide because the odds seem good that we’ll soon be eaten.

When Goliath issued his challenge for the eighty-first time, David heard. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by Goliath, David took action. He offered his service as Israel’s champion. There was only one problem. David was the least likely person in the Valley of Elah to take on a giant—just a boy, all peach fuzz, baby fat, and gangly arms and legs. He had never been in combat before. And those stories he told about battling lions and bears with his bare hands—they sound like exaggerations at best or as Hebrew scholar John Holbert suggests, “egregious lies.”

When Saul tried to suit the boy up with the proper armor to give him a fighting chance, the kid couldn’t even walk. So, David went into battle armed only with the rustic weapons that he used to keep his flock safe—his staff, a sling shot, and five stones. As the gigantic Goliath and little David faced off at the line of battle, talking trash to one another, the Philistines rubbed their hands thinking of the spoils of war, while the whole host of Israel prepared for the worst.

Then, the impossible happened. When Goliath lumbered out, brandishing his weapons of death, David ran to meet his enemy.The stone he slung found the only chink in the giant’s impregnable armor. Goliath crumbled to the ground. Before you could say Polyphemus or Bigfoot, Wendigo or Goliath, David used the giant’s own sword to cut off his huge head, and it was the Philistines—not the Israelites—who ran for their lives.

That David, he knew how to face the giant. He has a few lessons to teach us. Are we ready?

To start with, we must face the giant. Even though we don’t want to, even though every bone in our body shouts NO, face the giant we must. Because if we don’t, then we pass on to the next generation a legacy of family dysfunction. If we don’t, our addiction destroys our health and our family. If we don’t, the stress of our toxic workplace causes a heart attack that robs us of our retirement. If we don’t, our health declines as we deny our diagnosis, light another cigarette, help ourselves to that slice of cake, or ignore the blood in our stool. Refusing to face the giant limits us to a life of fear in which we are either paralyzed or on the run. If we won’t face the giant, then we aren’t really free to live because the giant is the one who drives our bus.

David’s second lesson in giant killing is that we don’t have to be a hero to face the giant. We don’t need to be the biggest and strongest. We don’t need to have the best and most glorious resources at our fingertips—the bronze helmet, the coat of mail, the king’s sword. When we face the giant, we feel inadequate—all peach fuzz and baby fat. But God has given us gifts and abilities that can be effective in taking on giants. If you ask a friend to name your gifts, they’ll come up with a lengthy list—persistence, moral courage, honesty, faith, friends, a voice that can speak the truth, the ability to ask for help. God gives us the gifts and the grit to take a stand. Believe it, my friends.

David’s third lesson in giant killing is that when we face trouble, we must call on the name of the Lord. In facing our giants, we think it’s all up to us. We roll up our sleeves, stiffen our upper lip, and wade into battle alone. Our self-reliance is a little like Goliath, relying on his brute strength and impressive weapons. Look where that got him. We forget that the most valuable resources in facing our giants are spiritual. We can wade into battle with the name of the great God of Israel upon our lips, the God who does not save by sword and spear. We can place our giants squarely in the hands of the almighty God, who wins the victory, even over death. We can trust that through Jesus the powers of sin and evil have already been defeated, the battle has been won for us. That doesn’t mean we’ll be instantly delivered from all that frightens and holds us captive, yet it does mean that we can face trouble head-on with confidence because the Lord is more than a match for our giants. Can I get an, “Amen”?

Everyone knows a few giant stories, don’t we? Giants are huge, overwhelming, and deadly. Facing the giant, we feel outmatched and hopeless, like we are in for the fight of our lives. It’s a good thing we’ve had some lessons in giant killing from David this morning. May we go forth to face our giants. May we trust in our God-given gifts and abilities. May we remember that God is always at work. With the Lord’s help, there is no giant that we cannot face. Thanks be to God.

Resources

John C. Holbert. “In the Name of YHWH” in Opening the Old Testament, 2005. Accessed online at In The Name Of YHWH? Reflections On 1 Samuel 17:1A, 4-11, 19-23, 32-39 (patheos.com)

Ralph W. Klein. “Commentary on 1 Samuel 17” in Preaching This Week, June 21, 2009. Accessed online at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-12-2/commentary-on-1-samuel-171-4-11-19-23-32-49-2

Samuel Giere, Jr. “Commentary on 1 Samuel 17” in Preaching This Week, June 24, 2012. Accessed online at Commentary on 1 Samuel 17:[1a, 4-11, 19-23] 32-49 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

Roger Nam. “Commentary on 1 Samuel 17” in Preaching This Week, June 21, 2015. Accessed online at Commentary on 1 Samuel 17:[1a, 4-11, 19-23] 32-49 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

1 Samuel 17:[1a, 4-11, 19-23] 32-49

17Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; ⁴And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. ⁵He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. ⁶He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. ⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. ⁸He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. ⁹If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” ¹⁰And the Philistine said, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.” ¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. ¹⁹Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. ²⁰David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. ²¹Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. ²²David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. ²³As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.] ³²David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” ³³Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” ³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. ³⁶Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!” ³⁸Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. ³⁹David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. ⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. ⁴¹The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴²When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. ⁴³The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” ⁴⁵But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.” ⁴⁸When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

Battered by the Waves

August 13, 2023 / reverendjoannwhite / Leave a comment

Sabbath Day Thoughts — “Battered by the Waves” Matthew 14:22-33

Researchers from the American Enterprise Institute, the University of Chicago, and the Pew Research Center have been studying the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on churches. They have found that Americans are now going to church less. 20% of church folks say they are now less likely to show up on Sunday mornings. Indeed, in most congregations, those who are “infrequent attenders,” only coming to church a few times each year, are the largest membership group. Those numbers are highest for mainline Protestant churches, where 51% of members are what we affectionately call C & E (Christmas and Easter) people. Americans who are least likely to attend church are young adults under thirty. 72% of them say that they have not attended church, either online or in-person, since the onset of the pandemic.

The overall decline in attendance comes at a time when many congregations were already struggling. According to a study by Faith Communities Today, even before the pandemic, the median congregation size in the United States had dropped from 137 people in 2000 to 65 people in 2020. That study also found that Americans who attend worship services are more likely to attend large congregations, leaving smaller local churches in difficult straits. Even churches that remained vital through that twenty-year pre-pandemic decline are now reporting that COVID brought a big drop in volunteerism that has yet to rebound. 40% of church attendees volunteered before the pandemic. Nowadays, those who share their time and talents have fallen to a meager 15%.

Author, speaker, and America’s most trusted commentator on religion and contemporary spirituality, Diana Butler Bass believes that the decline in church attendance and service is part of a larger societal shift. Bass says that even before the pandemic, Americans were experiencing a loneliness crisis, with fewer spending time with friends or participating in social, civic, or religious activities. Whether prompted by the rise of social media, or our mile-a-minute culture, or the polarization of American society along lines of politics, race, and economics, many have lost the habits and skills of being social, like making friends and creating community.

That may sound like a perfect opportunity for churches, but Bass reports that, “Churches haven’t really figured that out.” We think and say we are friendly, but we aren’t really. We don’t see the cultivation of friendships and congregational fellowship as vital to our spiritual life and an essential part of our calling as followers of Jesus, who called his disciples his friends. That must be why when we observe a “Bring a Friend to Church Sunday,” no one does.

One thing is clear. Churches are feeling battered by the waves of this post-pandemic world. Some congregations are bailing like crazy and hunkering down against the strong winds of change. Even so, it feels like disaster looms on the horizon. It’s just a matter of time before the boat is swamped and the waters roll in.

Our gospel lesson reminds us that the disciples knew how it felt to battle the elements in a small boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus fed the 5,000 and then sent his disciples on ahead of him, across the water, while he went up the mountain to pray. As the disciples headed out to sea, their smooth sailing gave way to troubled waters. Adverse winds blew in and whipped the waves high. Soon the disciples, even the seasoned mariners, were struggling to keep afloat. The last time they were in this predicament, Jesus was on board to still the storm. But now, Jesus was far behind on the shore and the disciples faced the storm alone.

They must have been near exhaustion in the early morning hours when they noticed a hazy shape on the horizon, emerging from the weather and dark. Matthew says that the disciples were terrified by the specter. The Greek word here – etaraxthaesan – means to experience very great mental distress and physical anguish: hearts thumping, guts churning, minds racing, a full-blown panic. Not one of the frightened crew thought beyond disaster to possibility. Not one reassured his companions that this could be Jesus and not a ghost.

The trouble with all those scary numbers and polls is that they can leave us as frightened and overwhelmed as the disciples were. We forget the skills we have, skills that have kept the church afloat for two millennia, through disaster, hardship, plague, Inquisition, Reformation, and persecution. We lose our ability to think creatively, so we cling fiercely to what feels familiar and comfortable. We don’t take risks and try new things like sending home-made cookies and garden-grown flowers out to a lonely world that hungers for connection and love. All our attention ends up focused on the storm instead of on the one who walked upon the water. We see only the problem and not the possibility.

I like to imagine that when Jesus came down the mountain after his time of prayer, he stood on the lakeshore. He felt the wind tugging at his robe. He saw the water whipped into whitecaps. On the horizon, many stadia away, he saw the little boat, and he knew that his friends were in trouble. So, Jesus did the impossible. He tapped into that holy and almighty power that formed a world out of watery chaos and he stepped out upon the water. He made a bee-line for his struggling friends. Within hailing distance of the boat, Jesus shouted words of encouragement, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

It is I, ego eimi, is better translated as “I am.” Jesus stood in the midst of the wind and the waves and invoked the great and ancient name that God used when speaking to Moses from the burning bush: I AM. “Take heart!” Jesus told his panicky friends, “The great I AM is here, now.”

I suspect that, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid,” is precisely the message that the post-pandemic church most needs to hear. Those surveys and statistics about declining numbers and fewer volunteers are a lot like rising winds. Those findings about growing isolation and alienation in our post-modern society can feel like stormy weather. It’s hard not to feel daunted by what worries and scares us. But obsessing about the numbers or despairing over changing social realities is a little like the anxious disciples despairing in the boat.

It’s a little like Peter, fearing the wind instead of taking the holy hand held out to him. I like to point out that when Jesus called to Peter, “Come,” the Lord didn’t still the storm. He didn’t rebuke the wind or quiet the water. Instead, Peter had to step out into the chaos. The waves churned beneath his feet. The wind swept his hair in front of his eyes. He felt the watery spray against his cheek. Even so, Peter did just fine as long as he kept his eyes on the prize. So can we. Jesus is with us amid the post-pandemic chaos. The Lord is here to encourage and comfort us amid nationwide declining attendance and dwindling volunteerism. Jesus can speak peace to our trembling hearts and stretch out a strong hand to save when we are in over our heads and feeling overwhelmed.

If you are a church wonk like me, then you know that the central portion of the sanctuary, where you are seated in the pews, is called the church’s nave. That name is from the Latin word navis, which means ship. In the early days of Christianity, the most commonly used symbol for the church was the ship. In fact, in a number of languages, including Danish, Swedish, Dutch, and Spanish, the same word is used for a ship and the church nave—skib, skepp, schip, nave. If we were to worship in a Nordic or Baltic church this morning, we would even see a model ship hanging in the nave, a nod to that ancient symbol for the church.

If you take a look at the vaulted, wooden ceiling of this church, you’ll notice that it looks a lot like a boat. And if you consider the stained-glass windows, you’ll see that on one side of our nave someone had the forethought to give us an anchor, representing faith to steady us in rising seas. And at the other end of the nave, they gave us a cross, the symbol of Christ our Lord, to guide us when the waves rise and the way seems dark. Here we are, all together in our little boat.

If we listen closely this morning, we might hear it above the winds that blow. Beyond the surveys and statistics, Jesus calls, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Look out to the horizon, beyond the problems. Look out to where the Lord waits. Look out for the possibilities are endless. Amen.

Resources

Nicholas Schaser. “Commentary on Matthew 14:23-33” in Preaching This Week, August 13, 2023. Accessed online at workingpreacher.org.

Carla Works. “Commentary on Matthew 14:23-33” in Preaching This Week, August 10, 2014. Accessed online at workingpreacher.org.

Mar G.V. Hoffman. “Commentary on Matthew 14:23-33” in Preaching This Week, August 7, 2011. Accessed online at workingpreacher.org.

Bob Smietana. “Church attendance declines as pandemic enters year three” in The Christian Century, Jan. 9, 2023. Accessed online at https://www.christiancentury.org/article/news/church-attendance-declines-pandemic-enters-year-three.

Justin Nortey and Michael Rotolo. “How the Pandemic Has Affected Attendance at U.S. Religious Services” a Report of the Pew Research Center, March 28, 2023. Accessed online at https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/03/28/how-the-pandemic-has-affected-attendance-at-u-s-religious-services/

Adelle M. Banks. “New study examines how COVID has changed churches” in The Christian Century, Dec. 15, 2021. Accessed online at https://www.christiancentury.org/article/news/new-study-examines-how-covid-has-changed-churches

Matthew 14:22-33

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. ²⁵And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” ²⁸Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³²When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Faith, Not Fear

August 7, 2022 / reverendjoannwhite / Leave a comment

Sabbath Day Thoughts — “Faith, Not Fear” Genesis 15:1-6; Luke 12:32

Ruth is afraid. Ever since she got that diagnosis, she wakes in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep. Her thoughts race. She wonders how she’ll pay the doctor’s bills. She knows how much her kids need her now – they may be grown, but, Lord, they depend upon her common sense and encouragement. She thinks about her husband Bud and wonders how he’ll get by if she doesn’t beat this. The man can barely fry an egg. With heart pounding and the acrid taste of fear in her mouth, Ruth tosses and turns.

Brad is afraid that he’ll never pass the bar exam. He wasn’t at the top of his law school class, but he worked hard and did all right. He even took one of those courses that prep you for the two-day test. But when Brad sits down to take the exam, things don’t go so well. While everyone else seems to fly through the six essays, Brad can’t concentrate or organize his thoughts, and the more he thinks about it, the more stressed he feels. He feels even worse when he begins to think about paying back his law school loans. He has failed twice. He’ll try once more, but he doesn’t feel confident.

Jenny is afraid that she’ll spend her life alone. She is shy. A middle child with two overbearing siblings, she learned to keep a low profile growing up. Her work as a researcher is solitary, and since the pandemic began, she has been working remotely. Her college friends are married with families of their own. She tried one of those dating apps, but found that the people she met didn’t share her values and had little interest in commitment. It doesn’t help that Jenny’s sister reminds her that her biological clock is ticking. Some days, Jenny feels hopeless about the future.

Abraham was afraid. He was already getting grey in the beard and long in the tooth when God called him away from his ancestral home in Ur of the Chaldeans. God promised Abraham and Sarah land and children, so they took a big risk and made the long journey. Along the way, there had been blessing, a land that flowed with milk and honey, flocks, prosperity, and victory. But what Abraham and Sarah really wanted, a child, remained an unfulfilled hope.

In this day and age when people may opt to not have children for any number of reasons, it may feel difficult to understand the despair and disappointment that Abraham felt. In the ancient near east, childlessness was a source of social ridicule and shame. Tradition taught that God alone governs fertility and opens and closes wombs, so a childless couple must be displeasing to the gods. This view persevered in the rabbinic tradition. In Jesus’s day, a childless man could not sit on the Sanhedrin, the governing board of the Temple. According to the Mishnah, the childless man was reckoned as if menuddeh, “cut off” from all communion with God, like one who has deliberately disregarded divine commands. Some texts consider a childless man to be already dead. From a purely practical point of view, in those days long before a social safety net, children were one’s heritage and safeguard for care and protection in old age.

Given that cultural context, we can hear the fear and hopelessness in Abraham’s voice. God tells Abraham to not be afraid. God promises that Abraham’s reward will be very great. But the patriarch laments, “O Lord God, what difference does it make what you give me for I continue childless?” The questions within Abraham’s question are, “Do you love me, God? Are you with me? Can you bless me when the world seems stacked against me?”

Fear can get the better of us. When we are afraid, our body responds powerfully. Threat kicks our hypothalmus, pituitary, and adrenal glands into overdrive. Primary stress hormones, like cortisol, adrenaline, and nonadrenaline flood our systems. Our heart rate and respiration soar. We feel the butterflies of panic. When we experience chronic fear, like illness, vocational woes, social isolation, violence, or crisis, we experience a reduction in our defenses and adaptive energy. Pretty soon, we are feeling overloaded, burned out, and fatigued. Our immune system can be compromised. Our sleep/wake cycle gets disrupted. We can’t eat—or we eat too much. Our headaches turn into migraines, muscle aches become fibromyalgia, body aches turn into chronic pain, and difficulty breathing can turn into asthma. Fear can even affect our spiritual life. Like Abraham, we may feel bitterness or confusion toward God. Like Abraham, we may struggle to trust God. We may even find it hard to be hopeful about the future.

I love how God responded to Abraham. God didn’t chastise Abraham for his ingratitude. God didn’t withdraw God’s love in an act of punishment. God didn’t treat the patriarch like a spoiled child and take away all his blessings. Instead, God took Abraham outside, into the deep dark of the night before the advent of electric lights. God called Abraham’s attention to the night sky, the milky way stretched across the heavens like a tent, a dazzling, visual symphony of stars and planets dancing across the darkness. “Take a look at this Abraham,” God promised, “This is what your progeny will one day be like.”

I suspect that Abraham felt very small beneath the night sky. To think that God, who had created that great cosmic lightshow from God’s very self, should care for Abraham! To imagine that God, who spins the whirling planets, should stand with him in the darkness and promise him a future! Surely, if the great God of the universe could do all this, then maybe Abraham could trust that God keeps God’s promises. As faith and trust swelled within the patriarch’s heart, he began to fear less. His heart slowed, his breath became even, the butterflies of panic in his gut flew away. There beneath the arc of the heavens, Abraham felt peace.

It didn’t happen overnight. It took fourteen more years. There were some rocky moments and crises of faith along the way. But in God’s time, Abraham and Sarah conceived. They were old as dirt and good as dead when their son was born. They named him Isaac, which means God laughs, and Abraham and Sarah laughed, rejoicing in the faithfulness of God.

We all contend with fear. Like Ruth, we have sleepless nights plagued by big and little fears. Like Brad, we may fear that our dreams just won’t come true. Like Jenny, we may fear the social isolation and disconnection that are characteristic of our world today. What are you afraid of?

Abraham reminds us that faith is the remedy for fear. Jesus knew that. Indeed, that’s why Jesus encouraged his disciples with the words, “Fear not little flock, for it is your heavenly Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” We might write those words off as an empty promise if they weren’t spoken by Jesus, who rose above fear to face head-on the agony of the cross and reveal to us the limitless love that God holds for us. God, who spins the whirling planets, God, who raised Jesus from the grave, God is more than a match for our fears. Let that truth swell your heart and bring you peace. Have faith. Fear less.

Ruth decided that she wasn’t going to allow her fear to get the better of her. She likes to tell folks that when you can’t sleep, don’t count sheep. Talk to the shepherd. She still feels overwhelmed from time to time, but those late-night times of prayer remind her that God is powerful, even when she is not.

When Brad realized that his fear was jeopardizing his vocational future, he went to his pastor about it. The pastor referred Brad to a counselor who has helped Brad add a few tools to his belt to help wrangle that overwhelming fear, like meditation, breathing exercises, and visualization. Brad and his pastor prayed together, and Brad has been added to the church’s prayer chain. He knows that when he next takes the exam, he’ll be better equipped, and he’ll have some caring folks praying for him, too.

One of Jenny’s married friends invited her to come to church. Jenny is still shy, but in the shared acts of worship, service, and learning, she has found that she is not alone. There are other folks who have the same values. They like her for who she is and make her feel welcomed. In their kindness and love, Jenny can feel God’s love for her. When Jenny’s sister reminds her that her biological clock is ticking, Jenny says that Jesus never had kids, but he left quite a legacy.

May our faith cast out fear.

Resources:

Judith Reesa Baskin. “Infertile Wife in Rabbinic Judaism” in Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. 31 December 1999. Jewish Women’s Archive. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/infertile-wife-in-rabbinic-judaism

MJP Atchison. “Children: A divine inheritance” in Religion News Service, June 18, 1996. https://religionnews.com/1996/06/18/commentary-children-a-divine-inheritance/

Jaime Rosenberg. The Effects of Chronic Fear on a Person’s Health. In AJMC, Nov. 11, 2017. https://www.ajmc.com/view/the-effects-of-chronic-fear-on-a-persons-health

Joe Pierre. “How Does Fear Influence Risk Assessment and Decision-Making?” In Psychology Today, July 15, 2020. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202007/how-does-fear-influence-risk-assessment-and-decision-making

Sara M. Koenig. “Commentary on Genesis 15:1-6” in Preaching This Week, August 11, 2013. https://workingpreacher.com

Callie Plunkett-Brewton. “Commentary on Genesis 15:1-6” in Preaching This Week, August 11, 2019. https://workingpreacher.com

Genesis 15:1-6

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ²But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” ⁴But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” ⁵He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Joann White

writer, pastor, spiritual director, and enthusiast of wild places

Faith Not Fear